Small venue leaves guests hoping for big laughs

By Melissa Arseniuk

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 | 10:55 p.m.

Imagine the chance to go back in time and see some of today’s leading comedians perform in the small venues they frequented before they made it big.

Now imagine it in present day Vegas – and right across the street from where the city’s big Comedy Festival is being held.

The LA Comedy Club began hosting informal late night shows featuring a handful of Comedy Festival comics on Thursday.

“It’s kind of a fun, organic little thing,” the club’s manager, Joaquin Trujillo, said.

“Bagg of Friends” is a mixed bag of festival headliners and low-liners, with fists full of laughter in between. The midnight showcase is named after its host, Comedian Ian Bagg, and runs from midnight until 2 a.m.

The lineup is never announced or promoted so ticketholders have to cross their fingers and hope for the best.

“Last night we had the guys from MAD TV here, tonight we had Dave Attell. Who knows who’s going to be here tomorrow night,” Trujillo said.

The inaugural Bagg of Friends saw Gene Pompa, Eddy Gossling and Matt Braunger take turns at the mic.

Todd Barry, Robert Hawkins, Morgan Murphy, Dana Eagle and Dave Attell were all there Friday.

“All the big guns are here,” seasoned late night talk show comic Barry said Friday night.

No one would say for sure who will step onstage tonight – but it’s fun to guess.

Perhaps Mike Epps and Dice play will stop by; that’d be a nice start. But it doesn’t hurt to cross your fingers for two of the bigger names who have been floated around as possible guests: Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres.

(It doesn’t hurt to dream big and aim high, now, does it?)

The comedians seem to enjoy the change of pace.

“It’s cool. I had a good time,” HBO and Comedy Central veteran Attell added after finishing a 10-minute stint at the mic.

“It’s a small room and they’re all drunk – it’s different from the big ballrooms at the festival.”

Attell headlined the festival Saturday night at 11:30 p.m. but stopped by the comedy club Friday after arriving from New York.

For many of the comedians, doing short bits in front of small audiences like this is a fun yet humbling return to their roots.

The comics joke with each other between sets and chat with fans at the bar as they mix and mingle.

The venue, in the second floor of Trader Vics inside the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood, holds about 200 people and provides a markedly different experience than the large-scale festival shows across the street at Caesars.

Trujillo said he plans on making the after-hours open call a Comedy Festival tradition.

Admission to “Bagg of Friends” is $29.95 and the two-hour laugh fest runs from midnight until 2 a.m.